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California urges conservation to avoid power emergency |
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| USA: July 11, 2002 | ||
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SAN FRANCISCO - California's power grid manager, scrambling for energy this week as scorching heat sent air conditioning demand soaring, appealed for conservation to avoid the first statewide grid emergency in over a year.
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The Independent System Operator, which runs most of the state's power system, was not forecasting blackouts this week but warned it needed to make up the loss of 2,200 megawatts of power generation out of service in the past 24 hours due to mechanical breakdowns at electricity plants. One megawatt is power for about 1,000 homes. The ISO said the peak demand on its system this week would crest at about 40,402 megawatts at 4 p.m. Pacific time, the highest load on the grid so far this year. The ISO said conservation was urgently needed to avert a "Stage One" electrical emergency, which is called when supplies drop below 7 percent of demand on the grid. The last big power emergency in California struck on July 3, 2001, capping nearly seven months of alerts and rolling blackouts stemming from the state's failed effort to deregulate its electricity industry. Widespread conservation and new power plants boosted power supplies, but the state is still struggling to balance supply and demand in its energy market after years of neglect. Jim McIntosh, grid director for the ISO, said California was "almost entirely dependent" on in-state power plants this week because the heat wave over the West was limiting electricity imports from neighboring states. Temperatures in California's Central Valley this week were forecast to soar past 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Sacramento and Fresno, while Las Vegas was expected to hit 113 degrees and Phoenix, Arizona, 110.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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